About me
I am a doctoral researcher in Gender Studies, at the Faculty of Social Sciences. My research topic is non-normative companionships: how companionships become lived and experienced when they do not fit into the norms of couple relationships and existing family models? My study widens the understanding of companionship by considering such companionships that have previously been excluded from the social scientifical study on intimate relations, such as human–non-human relations. I also develop a theoretical understanding of the concept of companionship. I contribute to feminist theoretical discussions of materiality and intimacy and draw from new materialist and posthuman theories. I study the co-becomings of companionships as an affective process that takes shape in social and material practices and human–non-human entanglements. Furthermore, I consider the enabling and restricting potentialities that unfold in the process, and how they become connected to wider societal, cultural, and political surroundings and power relations. The aim of my study is also to pay attention to the rights of non-normative companionships to become seen as valuable and important modes of sharing lives.
Funding
Selected publications
A1 Sukupuolen intensiteetit ja materiaalisuuden toiminta ulkonäkökokemuksen affektikokoumassa. Sukupuolentutkimus–Genusforskning, (2020)3, 35–49.
E1 Singlehood and Companionship: Challenges and Opportunities for New Frameworks. The Research Network of Singlehood Studies Blog. 16.10.2020 (co-written with Roua Al Taweel)
E1 Perheettömyys käsitetään yhä välitilaksi, vaikka normit muuttuvat. Alusta! 13.12. 2019